History
Drs. Joan Brest Friedberg and Elizabeth Segel taught Children's Literature at the University of Pittsburgh during the early 1980s. There, they became interested in a body of research demonstrating that the best way to prepare children to be successful readers was to read to them during their early years. The evidence was so overwhelming that Drs. Friedberg and Segel decided to spread the word, and began offering workshops and giving talks to parents and teachers, encouraging them to read aloud daily at home and at school. It quickly became evident, however, that parents and teachers who attended the workshops had already established a habit of reading to children in their homes and classrooms; they were simply reinforcing what these people already knew.
Drs. Friedberg and Segel realized that those parents who did not read consistently to their children would have to be reached in a different way. The women hypothesized that these parents had probably not been read to as children, were not themselves confident readers, and may not have the means to buy books and may not know what sorts of books would interest their children. Drs. Friedberg and Segel believed that spreading the message to these parents could be crucial in closing the well-documented gap between poor and more privileged children in reading ability and school success.
To this end, Drs. Friedberg and Segel designed what would become the Beginning with Books Gift Book Program in 1984. The program would provide parents with a set of new, engaging books for their young children, as well as written information and personal encouragement about reading to their kids. Parents would also be told about the resources at their public library and encouraged to visit.
Since then, Beginning with Books has evolved into the region's premier early literacy champion, serving the needs of children, parents, and educators throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.